Memories
by YerAWizardBec
Summary: Petunia Dursley recieves an Invite to Harry Potter's wedding, Dudley persuades her to attend. She spends the entire wedding sobbing bercause she has never seen anyone look as like her siter and so beautiful as Ginny Weasley. She makes peace with her demons and manages to clear her head in the process too.


**Authors note: so I was reading some headcanon and I saw this and it struck me, I decided I'd like to have a go at writing Harry's wedding and whether Petunia would actually turn up. I hope I did Petunia's feelings justice and I'm sorry if you don't like my writing style – I'm very into flashback at the minute :D if you like this, check out my big James/Lily story **_**'Accio Evans' **_**which I will update again soon – I promise! Now thank you for reading, remember to review!**

_**Memories: **_

Petunia Dursley stood in the small church in Godric's Hollow, wearing her best hat, her posh frock and her make up perfectly in place. She had made polite conversation with people, she smiled accordingly and was, externally at least, having a pleasantly lovely time.

Dudley Dursley had escorted his mother to the wedding against her better judgement, but now Petunia was here she was enveloped in a wave of unexpected emotion, something she was definitely not used to, or for any part been expecting. Dudley had been talking to a red haired boy for some time, Petunia supposed they had met before as they joked lightly, a brown haired girl on the red headed man's arm chuckled at something Dudley had said, a wand sticking haphazardly out of her side pocket. Here Dudley was, surrounded by magic, and yet he wasn't fazed in the slightest by it, Petunia wished she could have been as open minded in her youth as Dudley was now.

When Petunia Dursley had received the invitation to the wedding of Harry Potter and Ginevra Weasley, she almost declined. If it had not been for finding the invitation and being most eager to go petunia Dursley concluded she would not have attended, but in reality Dudley had coerced his mother into going along with him. On the morning of August 29th, they dressed accordingly and bundled into the car, much to the distaste of Vernon who would no talk of the wedding permitted inside his house. He warned them about scratching the car and announced once they returned home they were to act as if the wedding had never occurred.

The long car journey consisted of Dudley informs in his mother on the antics of Harry Potter and his bride to be; Dudley had met with Harry several times over the last year and gushed about how well suited the bride and groom were for each other. However, Petunia couldn't concentrate on the impending nuptials, she lost in a world of memories, memories she had supressed in the back of her mind, that is until today.

"_Petunia!" Vernon Dursley roared from the front door of Privet drive. Petunia was vaguely aware of the shuffling of letters as she lumbered down the stairs in a half awake stupor. The smell of burnt bacon filled her nostrils and she wrinkled her nose, Vernon must have tried to cook again, something which he only did when he was in a great haste, something which was evident from his anxious foot tapping as he handed her a letter and tore out the front door towards his car and off to work without saying goodbye. It was a good job that Petunia Dursley was only half awake that morning, for if she had been fully alert she would have narrowed her eyebrows, tutted and refused to open the letter. However this morning Petunia was not yet fully awake and failed to notice her sister's swirly handwriting across the front or the faint smell of Lily's perfume as she opened the parchment. Blinking rapidly, Petunia was now very awake. The letter read:_

'_Dearest Petunia, _

_I would like to invite you to the wedding of myself and my fiancée James Potter. I know we have not spoken for some few months since I graduated from Hogwarts, however I would like to rectify this and would be honoured if you would be my bridesmaid. If you can reply to this letter we can arrange a time to meet up._

_All my love, Lily Evans xxx'_

_Petunia Dursley didn't know what to make of the letter; she stood in her hallway, silent, staring blankly into space for some several minutes. She failed to notice the printed invitation still sitting the envelope. She rang in sick to work that day, she sat on the sofa, letter in hand and breathed in the faint smell of her sister. Although Petunia would never admit it, but she missed Lily, she missed how close they used to be, she missed what could have been._

_And that's how Vernon found his wife that evening, curled up on the sofa, letter still in hand, eyes red and cheeks blotchy from tears that she didn't know had fallen. Without asking Vernon snatched the letter from his wife's hand before she had chance to explain. _

"_Well you're not going are you?" he demanded gruffly. Petunia hadn't decided, she was torn, part of her badly wanted to go, just to see if she could rekindle the relationship with her sister, but then another part of her didn't want to go out of spite; she wanted Lily to miss her, just like Petunia missed her. _

"_I haven't decided." Petunia croaked. _

"_Well, I'm not driving you there. I most certainly will not be going anywhere near that filthy place." Vernon replied, shaking his head vigorously. "No, I most certainly will not. Godric's Hollow? Not even a proper name." he huffed as he pulled off his coat and settled down in the armchair opposite her. "When is dinner ready?" he asked not taking his eyes from the television screen. And that was the end of the discussion. _

_When the day of the wedding came, Petunia laid out her favourite pink skirt and white jacket, she looked at them longingly and then put them back in her wardrobe with a sigh, she would not be attending her sister's wedding. She hadn't even had the decency to make up an excuse to not go; she just hadn't bothered to reply to her sister's very polite letter. She knew she was a horrible person, but she couldn't help it, Vernon had forbidden her to go in all but name and snorted in disgust when she mentioned replying to the letter, so she hadn't. _

"_Petunia!" Vernon roared from downstairs, she sighed again and tried to convince herself that she had a new life now, she didn't need her sister anymore. As she descended down the stairs towards the sound of her husband's voice, she pushed the nagging feeling she should be in Godric's Hollow to the back of her mind, never to be thought of until the day of Harry Potter's wedding. _

As the car rounded into a small village in the middle of the quiet countryside, Petunia Dursley was overcome by the beauty of the place. Green fields rolled by and thatched cottages lined the streets. Brightly coloured flowers filled the air with a sweet scent, the whole village was a typical country village, however something seemed different, maybe it was the beauty of the place, or maybe it was the magic that hung in the air. The whole place was beautiful; Petunia took a sharp intake of breath as she read the sign further along the road.

'Welcome to Godric's Hollow – please drive carefully.'

She was here, where she should have been some twenty odd years ago for her sister's wedding and she was once overcome with emotion and guilt of memories past.

_Harry had arrived on their doorstep four days ago and for the first time Petunia had a chance to sit and just think. Vernon had taken Dudley out for the day and petunia was left at home feigning a headache. Harry was asleep in a cot in the spare bedroom and Petunia Dursley finally had time to think. The last four days had been a whirlwind and finally the reality of the situation sunk in. Lily was dead. Murdered in cold blood in her own home. The numbness that Petunia had been feeling wore off suddenly and without warning and the tears came. Floods and floods of tears pouring down her cheeks, her eyes like waterfalls spilling a torrent of salty tears down her skin. Her breath escaped in sobs tearing from her chest in ragged breaths. She wasn't sure how long she just sat there, on the floor of her bedroom, sobbing, longing for a sister that she would never have again. It was only when the muffled gurgling of a baby interrupted her sobs did Petunia cease to cry. Pulling herself up from the floor, she slowly walked towards the spare room, as she rounded the door, there stood Harry, stood on his shaky legs clinging to the side of the cot. Lily's sparkling green eyes staring back at her, surrounded by James' messy black hair and mischievous mouth. _

"_Mama?" Harry spoke. And that was all that was needed to start Petunia sobbing again. Crumbling in a heap on the floor, she regretted the time she'd spent with Vernon instead of Lily; she regretted every scathing remark, every snide comment, every time Vernon had insulted Lily and she'd agreed. She regretted everything, now her sister was gone and she couldn't take anything back. _

"_Sshhh." A little voice spoke, and when Petunia looked up, Harry had hand in front of his lips and the other outstretched for her to hold. Harry looked at his Aunt, his eyes still shining. Petunia tore her eyes from Harry's to the the cut on his forehead still fresh and swollen, when Petunia finally looked back at Harry's eyes, they too were spilling with tears, his small frown furrowing his eyebrows as he cried. _

"_Where mama?" he asked again, small hiccup like sobs escaping from his tiny body. Petunia couldn't answer him, she shook her head. _

"_I don't know." Was all she could reply. _

"_Daddy. Where daddy?" Harry asked again. _

"_I don't know." Petunia repeated the she left, leaving the one year old crying. She couldn't stay in the room as Harry, seeing Lily's eyes again, it made the reality seem too close, she couldn't stand it anymore. She dragged herself from the room and into the bathroom. She forced a smile at herself in the mirror; applied some more make up to cover up the red marks around her eyes, attempting to ignore Harry's screams from the spare room. _

"_We're home." Vernon shouted up the stairs, Petunia flew down them and enveloped her son in a hug. _

"_Ickle Duddy-kins! Did you miss mummy?" she cooed, holding him close. Vernon huffed slightly and lowered himself into the armchair in front of the television, too trying to ignore Harry's screams._

"_Will you get that brat to be quiet, I can't hear the television!" Vernon demanded from the front room. Petunia inwardly sighed and made her way slowly up the stairs, the sounds of her husband's chuntering still audible. She held Dudley on her hip, he struggled against her grip and hit her shoulder to try and break free. His mop of blonde hair fell neatly across his neat forehead as she placed his down in his cot in the room she shared with Vernon. She retrieved a chocolate bar from her drawer when Dudley began to strop, the chocolate quietened him and Petunia walked slowly walked across the landing._

_Rounding the door to the spare room, Petunia was greeted with the sight of Harry still hanging off the side of his cot, tears streaming down his cheeks, like hers had, minutes before. _

"_Mama? Daddy?" Harry asked again. Petunia ushered him to be quiet and left the room, closing the door to muffle the sounds. As she closed the door on Harry, she mentally closed to door on the memory of her sister, and in doing so she lost part of herself._

_Over time Petunia thought of her sister less and less, and as time passed she began to believe the story Vernon spun, her sister was a good for nothing, her husband a lay about, the world was better off without them. _

As Dudley drove into Godric's Hollow, Petunia scanned the houses wondering which was her sisters, in which one had her and James made their home. As they pulled into a small road, Dudley span the wheel of the car to pull into a small car parking space along the road, along the path there was a gap, where there should have stood a house, was an empty space. Something in her head urged her to look away, forget about the space, but then something drew her attention. Dudley put on the handbrake on, switched off the engine and opened the door.

"You getting out?" he laughed, Petunia stared at her son for a second and then exited the car. "The church is just down here." Dudley gestured down the narrow road. Petunia nodded.

"I'll just be a second, you go on ahead." Petunia replied once the car was locked. Dudley shrugged and hurried up the road towards the faint sound of bells. Petunia stood at the gate of the gap in the houses. Something about it told her this was no accidental gap in the houses; this was the place her sister's house had stood, obviously destroyed in the time since her death, the place where her sister died. The feelings that Petunia had supressed for so many years suddenly became apparent, the mental door she closed now tentatively opened. The regret she felt once again surfaced. She took a deep breath, and walked on shaky legs towards the church, not noticing the _'L+J'_ carved into the wood of the fence post just below the lock.

The church looked incredibly odd, it was surrounded by hundreds of people, some in normal clothing, suits, dresses, skirts and ties, and others in the strange robes, like Lily had worn to school, only in various different colours from the spectrum. An elderly woman wearing green robes and a pointed hat with her hair scooped low into a tight bun smiled, and remarked on the lovely day, the woman next to her in dark yellow robes agreed. Petunia noted she had a significant amount of dirt under her nails as she shook her hand.

"Pomena Sprout." The woman in yellow robes introduced herself.

"Petunia Dursley." Petunia replied after a moment's hesitation, she was for a second almost too embarrassed to introduce herself, did the two, obviously witches, know how badly she had treated her nephew out for spite, the only way she had been able to cope.

"Minerva McGonagall. We're both Harry's teachers at Hogwarts" The other said, gesturing between herself and Pomena, a faint Scottish accent became apparent as she spoke her name. "We have met before." She explained. "I was in my animagus form however." She added. Petunia was suddenly reminded of that Halloween, the day her sister had died, she remembered the day clearly. The cat that had sat on her garden wall for the whole day, the speckled marks around its eyes, the same marks that surrounded Minerva's eyes, only on the witch they were made from metal and contained glass, her glasses. As if able to read her mind, Minerva chuckled.

"Yes, that cat was me." Petunia didn't know how that was possible but she smiled nonetheless.

"I must be going, I need to find my son, but it was nice meeting you both." Petunia replied, and she wasn't lying. As Petunia turned to leave she nearly stood on a small man, only 3ft tall with flowing white hair and a thick white beard.

"Oh I am very sorry." Petunia said, she noted the man wore robes of cobalt blue, another wizard.

"Filius Flitwick, nice to meet you."

"Petunia Dursley." She replied, bending down to shake the outstretched hand of the small wizard.

Petunia stopped to shake hands and introduce herself to several other wizards and witches around the small grounds of the church, several muggles were too in attendance, however they seemed ignorant to the obvious acts of magic which seemed to be taking place. Petunia counted at least twelve wands in plain view, and that wasn't counting those which were slightly obscured by clothing or body parts. She was surrounded by wizards and witches and for once in her life she did not feel threatened, or even inclined to hiss freak at them, she felt close, close to her sister. She was her link to this world, this was the world in which Lily belonged, the world in which she could shoot green and blue fireworks into the sky like a small boy did from the end of his wand, or levitate another from the ground, as another little girl did. This was the world Petunia had been missing out on her whole life because she had been jealous of her sister's ability and angry because it was her perfect little sister who inherited the magical gene and not her. Despite not having a drop of magical blood running through her veins, Petunia Dursley did not feel out of place as she thought she would. She recognised Dudley's hoarse laugh as he joked with another man who looked as if his eyebrows had been singed. Sitting down on a small bench underneath a tree, Petunia Dursley felt very much at home, something which baffled and bemused her. She wasn't sure how long she sat under the tree, just watching the other wedding guests, a red headed woman, obviously the mother of the bride, running around madly, attempting to find her other children who were all ushering her to calm down. Petunia sat on her own for some ten minutes before she felt the weight of someone else beside her on the bench. Petunia looked up and was greeted by the eyes of her sister, the eyes that every time she saw, she felt immense guilt; the reason she had treated Harry so badly, she had no way of dealing with the unimaginable guilt that threatened to eat her whole from the inside out.

"I didn't think you'd come." Harry spoke politely. "I'm glad you did though." He smiled. Petunia mused that he looked like his father when he smiled, a sort of mischievous grin that you didn't know whether you could wholly trust or whether he would prank you as soon as your back was turned. Petunia smiled back.

"I am too." She replied, and for once she meant it. Comfortable silence ensued for a moment or two, as the two just sat, enjoying a moment of calm within the torrent of frantic nerves.

"Dudley seems happy." Petunia remarked, Dudley once again was cackling at something the red haired boy had said. Harry laughed slightly.

"That's Ron, he's my best friend. I introduced Dudley to him last year; they seem to enjoy each other's company." Harry replied. "He'll be my brother in law soon." Harry mused, Petunia wasn't sure whether harry had meant to say it out loud, but he had. "He's Ginny's brother you see," Harry explained. "That's how I met her." Harry smiled, obviously remembering something fond because a huge grin broke onto his face.

"Harry dear, you must hurry; Ginny will be here any moment! You have to get inside the church!" the red headed woman chided from several paces away as she tried to hurry Harry along inside the church. Harry suddenly looked very sick.

"Just give me a moment Molly." He replied, however Molly had already hurried off and was herding the wedding guests into the small church which seemed far too small to accommodate the vast number of guests. Harry turned to his aunt. "I know you miss your sister… and I know you hate all this…" Harry added, gesturing to his wand which stuck from the inside pocket of robes. "But thank you for coming." He concluded as he stood up to leave. Petunia knew now was the right moment to say what had been gnawing at her brain ever since she had taken Harry in on her doorstep.

"I don't hate all this." She sighed. "Magic, that is. In fact, although I wasn't close with your mother I was always jealous. Jealous of what she could do. I wanted to give her a chance to be… sisters again. I wanted to give all this, a chance." Petunia said, gesturing her palms to the tree above them that was decorated with tiny pixies dancing around his glass orbs. "But then she died… and I never got the chance. My emotion got the better of me, and I blamed magic for her death, I blamed you. Over the years I convinced myself that it was the magic inside her that killed her, like she was some sort of freak, but being here today, it has changed my mind. Seeing the way Dudley has accepted the magic, it's made me think, it can't all be bad." She finished, exhaling deeply. Harry for another word, looked shocked, he hadn't expected that the come from his aunt's mouth. She had always been a bitter lady, strong and aloof, but over the last year he had noticed change. She questioned Uncle Vernon, and she'd come to his wedding and she'd admitted what she truly felt, Petunia Dursley was a changed woman. "And, I'm sorry." Petunia added. "I'm sorry for how I treated you. And if I could take it back I would…it's just, every time I look at you, I see Lily and I see James. And every time I see you it brings back their deaths, makes it feel so fresh, so raw again. And that has taken me a very long time to come to terms with." Petunia finished, by Harry didn't need to her anymore.

"I understand Aunt Petunia. Now, may I escort you inside?" he asked, holding out his arm. Petunia nodded curtly, a small smile forming on her lips as she linked her arm through Harry's and walked inside.

As Ginevra Weasley walked down the aisle, Petunia felt tears wet her cheeks, salty waves flooded her cheeks. Ginny was beautiful, stunning and she looked exactly like Petunia pictured Lily on her wedding day. Her slim body wore a tight dress of cream and silver, her hair was left loose, the natural waves of her hair free, her face needed virtually no makeup and her eyes glistened. A smile bearing across her face as she locked eyes with Harry who stood at the front of the church, in awe of the woman who was walking towards him. This was exactly how Petunia imagined Lily's wedding would have gone, the messy haired man stood at the front of the church scarcely believing that this red haired beauty was about to marry him. Then all the pain of years' worth of guilt just floated away, she may not have been at her sister's wedding, but yet here it was being acted out in front of her as Harry and Ginny became man and wife.

The real reason Petunia was crying, was because she had never seen anyone look so like her sister and so beautiful.

The ceremony was beautiful, despite the hordes of guests; the church had been virtually silent as the vows were said. Petunia had sobbed her way through the entire service, Dudley had held her hand and Petunia was sure he'd shed a tear or two too. She had hugged Harry and kissed Ginny on the cheek as they exited the church, stopping at Petunia and Dudley to say a quiet thank you. Once the confetti had been thrown and photos taken, Petunia found herself at the back of the group. Then a though struck her, James and Lily had been buried at the same church they had married, the old wizard with the long white beard and funny robes had once told her. Petunia knew that had been married in Godric's hollow, this very church that is why Harry had picked it and she had kept the invitation to her sister's wedding, unable to throw it away. Unable to explain what was coursing through her body, Petunia left the wedding party and walked slowly and silently through the rows of graves which filled the small church yard around the side of the country church. A few rows in she found two graves, both covered with fresh flowers. The headstones read James and Lily Potter. Petunia shed a tear or two, before laying her corsage, a lily, down beside the other flowers. She spent a few minutes there, just staring at her sister's headstone, finally feeling close to her again, and then she finally found the words she'd been searching for.

"I'm sorry Lily, I'm sorry for all the pain and suffering I caused you. I'm sorry I didn't accept James, I'm sorry I was mean to you and I'm sorry for how I treated harry… it's just I couldn't cope, I didn't know _how_ to cope. My sister was now a witch and I wasn't. I was jealous and spiteful and I took that out on your son. Please forgive me." She exhaled deeply, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Mum!" Petunia heard, she turned to see Dudley smiling back at her. "Are you coming, we're all leaving for the reception now – we get to use wizard travel!" Dudley shouted, shaking with excitement. "Ron has a flying car!" he added, before hurrying back obviously not wanting to miss his flying taxi.

Petunia made to leave, but then another thought struck her and she turned back to her sister's grave.

"You know what Lily, you'd have been proud of him today." And as Petunia spoke, a gentle breeze filtered through the church yard and Petunia knew, her sister agreed.

**Authors note: now that wasn't too painful was it? Haha, hope you liked it, remember to review! And check out **_**'Accio Evans'**_** Thank you for reading :D TTFN! xxx**


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